Talk:Cultural landscape

Two different definition of culture in this article?

One definition of landscape in this article

1. Area of historic, cultural or esthetic value

Any other definition that could have been perceived as one is an accident.

POV

The section: The Myth of the Pristine Landscape is entirely POV. The section so much as says so itself:

In a 1992 journal article, William M. Denevan closely examines this idea of "a world of barely perceptible human disturbance" and instead argues for the alternative hypothesis . . .

It presents solely Denevan's arguement, after a one sentence summation of what is purported to be the alternative to his "alternative hypothesis."

There needs to be footnotes, and other sources as well, I tagged it as such. Hopefully the main editors around here can tackle it. Happy Editing. : ) A mcmurray 21:56, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

In the midst of my research for National Register of Historic Places I have found this article to be suffciently jacked beyond all recognition and in need of a complete rewrite, appropriate tag added. I will get to it as part of the project collaboration on the above article. IvoShandor 10:03, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Noting there does not seem to have been any activity since March 2007, and beacuse I have a special interest in this subject/ article, I propose to commence a re-write, with early proposed drafts/drafting to be floated first on this discussion/talk page .. see below! Bruceanthro 23:17, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Proposed New Introduction and Amended Definition

Existing Intro reads:

Cultural landscape is defined as the human-modified environment, including fields, houses, churches, highways, planted forests, and mines, as well as weeds and pollution.

A cultural landscape defined as:

"a geographic area, including both cultural and natural resources and the wildlife or domestic animals therein, associated with an historic event, activity, or person or exhibiting other cultural or aesthetic values."

Proposed New Intro may read : [in progress] Bruceanthro 23:23, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Cultural Landscapes have been defined by the World Heritage Committee as any region of the world or any property "..represent[ing] the combined work of nature and of man.." .

The concept of 'cultural landscapes' is being developed at an international United Nation's scale (UNESCO) in an effort to overcome "..one of the most pervasive dualisms in Western thought - that of nature and culture [divided and seperated]"

The World Heritage Committee has identified three main categories of 'cultural landscape' in the world, namely:

(i) "a landscape designed and created intentionally by man";
(ii) an "organically evolved landscape" which may be a "relict (or fossil) landscape" or a "continuing landscape";

(iii) an "associative cultural landscape" which may be valued becuase of the "religious, artistic or cultural associations of the natural element"

Examples of cultural landscapes listed by the World Heritage Committee as being of outstanding, universal value to humanking are listed below, including links to external sites where possible and appropriate.

Bruceanthro 02:06, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Proposed Amended History of Cultural Landscapes

Existing History begins:

The geographer Otto Schluter is identified as having used the term “cultural landscape” in the early twentieth century (James and Martin 1981:177). In 1908, Schluter argued that by defining geography as a Landschaftskunde (landscape science) this would give geography a logical subject matter shared by no other discipline (Elkins 1989:27, James and Martin 1981:177). In approaching landscapes Schluter used the historical geographic approach. He defined two forms of landscape: the Urlandschaft or landscape that existed before major human induced changes and the Kulturlandschaft a landscape created by human culture. The major task of geography was to trace the changes in these two landscapes.

Schluter looked to the impact of humans on the natural environment rather than determination of human activities by the natural environment. The method used was morphological and based firmly on the fixed and movable forms of the landscape, ignoring non-material aspects (such as social conditions) (James and Martin 1981:177).

Conzen’s review of historical geography suggests that by the mid-1920s geography had developed a distinct historical stream with a heavy emphasis on environmental determinism. “The first quarter of the twentieth century had witnessed Promethean battles over the scope and orientation of American geography, in which the historical perspective had played a critical role and produced a literature of brash generalisation balanced precariously upon fragmentary research (Conzen 1993:25).

Proposed Amended History begins: [in progress] Bruceanthro 23:23, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

The concept of 'cultural landscapes' may find it origins in the European tradition of landscape painting. From the 1500's onwards, many European artists painted landscapes in favour of people, diminishing the people in their paintings to figures subsumed within broader, regionally specific landscapes.

The word "landscape" itself combines 'land' with a verb of Germanic origin, "scapjan/ schaffen" to mean, literally, 'shaped lands'. Lands were then regarded to have been shaped by natural forces, and the unique details of such landshaffen (shaped lands) became themselves the subject of 'landscape' paintings.

The geographer Otto Schluter is identified as having first formally used “cultural landscape” as an academic term in the early twentieth century . In 1908, Schluter argued that by defining geography as a Landschaftskunde (landscape science) this would give geography a logical subject matter shared by no other discipline . He defined two forms of landscape: the Urlandschaft or landscape that existed before major human induced changes and the Kulturlandschaft (tran. Cultural landscape) a landscape created by human culture. The major task of geography was to trace the changes in these two landscapes.

It was Carl O. Sauer, a human geographer, who was probably the most influential in promoting and developing the idea of cultural landscapes

Bruceanthro 14:51, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

Further 'History' leading to concept as applied in World Heritage

From the original article:

Cronon (1995) believes that Sauer’s definition cannot be upheld today since it is clear that there is no clear distinction between nature and culture, since both interlink and should be regarded together as co-productions. Also, note the reference by Sauer of a different ‘alien culture’, which surely symbolises the cultural impacts caused by Europeans during colonialism which resulted in the imposition of colonial cultures upon pre-existing cultures.

Now proposed to be amended as follows:

By 1962 Sauer's classic definition and understanding of 'cultural landscapes' was being used, and re-written as follows:

"Cultural Landscape a concrete and characteristic product of the interplay between a given human community, embodying certain cultural preferences and potentials, and a particular set of natural circumstances. It is a heritage of many eras of natural evolution and of many generations of human effort."

It was in October 1992 that the World Heritage Centre assembled a group of specialists to redraft the World Heritage Conventions Operational Guidelines to include 'cultural landscapes'.

"Although the concept of landscape has been unhooked for some time from it's original art associations .. there is still a dominant view of landscapes as an inscribed surface, akin to a map or a text, from which cultural meaning and social forms can simply be read."

Bruceanthro 22:40, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

Regarding 'Myth of Pristine Landscapes'

Where there is a disputed section .. and there has been no action for some time .. not sure what the proper practice is, but I have shifted the section here, as follows:

"With the arrival of Europeans to North and South America and their subsequent forays into the hearts of these continents, explorers frequently encountered sparsely inhabited landscapes they thought was untouched wilderness, a belief which has persisted into contemporary time. In a 1992 journal article, William M. Denevan closely examines this idea of "a world of barely perceptible human disturbance" and instead argues for the alternative hypothesis in which the state of American landscapes as they were in early post-contact times were largely shaped by anthropogenic processes such as deforestation and agricultural burning. He argues that the indigenous people largely partook in these activities out of a need for survival; therefore, modifying their local ecosystems into cultural and humanized landscapes. For an example of a landscape characteristic that is anthropogenic in origin, see the wikipedia article on Terra Preta."

It would seem this aspect of the application of the concept of 'cultural landscapes' does deserve attention, and I note it is also a large part of the subject matter of the Pannell paper/book referred and relied upon, and linked into the article .. Perhaps an amendment and elaboration of this might be considered .. much as in the last two headinged postings above?? Bruceanthro 00:55, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

References:

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General page update

I would like to propose some edits to the page based on discussion we had at a symposium in December 2020.

• The concept of Cultural Landscape is useful for the sustainable management and conservation of heritage, for example by empowering ownership and local participation at cultural heritage sites. I would like to mention this either in a seperate section or in an additional paragraph in the introduction, with appropriate references.
• Whilst the definition of Cultural Landscape is a direct quote from the UNESCO Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, the language is not inclusive (specifically "works of man"). Progressive edits (up until 9th April 2015) seem to have removed a more broad definition, which was still based on the UNESCO document but used more inclusive language.
• The list of examples is also solely based on the UNESCO website, but it could be expanded to include other sites which are generally accepted to fit the definition, such as Petra, Jordan and Cappadocia, Turkey. These would be appropriately cited with works that explore the concept with reference to these sites.

These edits were discussed during an edit-a-thon facilitated by Wikimedia volunteers that took place following the SXNCH symposium. As the last major overhaul of this page took place in 2007, we felt they could form part of a general update to the page. We felt we should begin by posting this on the talk page in order to see if people were actively managing the page and interested in discussing this further. I will also reach out to the main past editors of the page to get their opinion. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:2450:102E:3C8:34A0:7DD3:BDE0:F319 (talk) 15:20, 8 December 2020 (UTC)